With Eye on 5th Term, Councilman Maps His Agenda for the Valley

Even as Los Angeles Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky removed himself Wednesday from the list of candidates for next year’s mayoral race, he was mapping out an agenda to drum up votes in the San Fernando Valley to win reelection to the council next spring.

In a four-page statement, Yaroslavsky said he decided not to run for mayor for family reasons but would seek reelection to his seat representing the 5th District, more of which is located in the Valley following last summer’s reapportionment.

The statement identified 12 items of local “unfinished business and new goals” for the 5th District that Yaroslavsky said he hoped to complete if reelected--seven of which pointedly mention the Valley.

“The population of my district is now almost evenly divided between the Valley and the Westside,” Yaroslavsky said in an interview Wednesday.

The lawmaker, who will be seeking his fifth full term in office, has represented parts of the Valley since 1986.

But after last summer’s adoption of a redistricting plan to take into account population shifts reflected in the 1990 census, the boundaries of Yaroslavsky’s political turf moved much deeper into the Valley.

Now the 43-year-old resident of the Fairfax District in Los Angeles represents all of Sherman Oaks, half of Studio City and parts of Van Nuys and North Hollywood, in addition to Bel-Air, Westwood and Fairfax.

“We’ve enjoyed very much representing the San Fernando Valley,” Yaroslavsky said. “The Valley portion of my district has been good to us in the past, and we think we have reciprocated with good programs.”

Yaroslavksy said he was particularly pleased with strides his office has made in recent years to curb overdevelopment in the Valley.

He cited his support of the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan, the blueprint for controlling commercial growth along the Valley’s major street, and his support for measures to limit the number of new apartment buildings in Sherman Oaks.

Yaroslavsky said he has not, however, reached a decision on proposals to extend the current two-year period Ventura Boulevard developers have to pay the so-called trip fees that are to be used to deal with the traffic effects of their projects.

“I haven’t really looked at that,” he said. “A reasonable extension of time may be in order, although the Planning Commission may have gone way too far for us.”

The commission has recommended giving developers 10 years to pay, while the council’s own planning committee has recommended a four-year period.

Yaroslavksy also pledged Wednesday to defeat Burbank Airport’s current expansion plans and obtain new controls over sightseeing helicopter services operating out of city-owned Van Nuys Airport, which have drawn noise complaints from residents of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Although acknowledging that the city has failed in previous efforts to gain control over aviation matters--which the federal government usually oversees--Yaroslavsky said that “the alternative is roll over and play dead, and I’m not going to do that.”

Yaroslavsky made other Valley-related commitments. He said he would continue to support a deep-bore Metro Rail subway route along Chandler Boulevard to protect the surrounding community from noise; seek to expand the Studio City library; construct a jogging track at Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Park, and protect the Mulholland Scenic Corridor from “overdevelopment and environmental degradation.”